Link Roundup September 2017

The Real Lesson of the Stanford Prison Experiment

Within the first few days of the BBC study, it became clear that the guards weren’t cohering as a group. “Several guards were wary of assuming and exerting their authority,” the researchers wrote. The prisoners, on the other hand, developed a collective identity. In a change from the Stanford study, the psychologists asked each participant to complete a daily survey that measured the degree to which he felt solidarity with his group; it showed that, as the guards grew further apart, the prisoners were growing closer together.

A Texas Assistant Principal Wrote an Alt-Right Children's Book

Despite—or perhaps because of—the negative publicity, Post Hill Press signed Hauser to a book deal days after its initial publication. Publicist Devon Brown told Motherboard via email that an editor at the company "saw a flurry of activity on the subreddit The_Donald," and the company decided to pick up the book and sign him. Simon & Schuster declined to comment on the content and themes of The Adventures of Pepe and Pede.

Pepe the Frog’s Creator Gets Alt-Right Children’s Book Pulled, Vows to ‘Aggressively Enforce His Intellectual Property’

"Furie wants one thing to be clear: Pepe the Frog does not belong to the alt-right. As this action shows, Furie will aggressively enforce his intellectual property, using legal action if necessary, to end the misappropriation of Pepe the Frog in any way that espouses racism, white supremacy, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, Nazism, or any other form of hate. He will make sure that no one profits by using Pepe in alt-right propaganda—and particularly not by targeting children."

Mexico considers importing avocados as staple priced out of consumers' reach

But the success of the industry has driven up prices to unprecedented levels in recent months: avocados regularly sell for more than 80 pesos (£3.40) per kilo in many markets – the same value as Mexico’s daily minimum wage. Producers say the price spike has been driven in part by a 20% shrinkage in the crop, but others point to the growing international demand, and warn that high prices are here to stay.

The last surviving sea silk seamstress

Vigo is known as su maistu (‘the master’, in Sardo). There can only be one maistu at a time, and in order to become one, you must devote your life to learning the techniques from the existing master. Like the 23 women before her, Vigo has never made a penny from her work. She is bound by a sacred ‘Sea Oath’ that maintains that byssus should never be bought or sold.

Equifax waited 5 weeks to admit it had doxed 44% of America, did nothing to help us while its execs sold stock

From mid-May to July 2017, Equifax exposed the financial and personal identifying information of 143 million Americans -- 44% of the country -- to hackers, who made off with credit-card details, Social Security Numbers, sensitive credit history data, driver's license numbers, birth dates, addresses, and then, in the five weeks between discovering the breach and disclosing it, the company allowed its top execs to sell millions of dollars' worth of stock in the company, while preparing a risibly defective and ineffective website that provides no useful information to the people whom Equifax has put in grave financial and personal danger through their recklessness.

'We don't have anything': landlords demand rent on flooded Houston homes

And under Texas law, rent must still be paid on damaged dwellings, unless they are deemed completely uninhabitable. A spokeswoman for the city of Houston’s housing department said city officials “are aware these problems exist” but said that state law deals with the situation. She said the city was still assessing the total number of people in need of housing assistance. Under the Texas property code, if a rental premises is “totally unusable” due to an external disaster then either the landlord or tenant can terminate the lease through written notice. But if the property is “partially unusable” because of a disaster, a tenant may only get a reduction in rent determined by a county or district court.

Catalan leader accuses Spanish government of Franco-style crackdown

Puigdemont said the arrival in Catalan ports of at least three ferries intended to accommodate thousands of police officers tasked with preventing the referendum taking place on 1 October was proof of the Spanish government’s authoritarian attitude.

How Does a Cowbird Learn To Be a Cowbird?

In laboratory experiments, cowbirds and other brood parasites that spend too much time with their foster families end up learning their host species’ songs, picking up their behaviors, and attempting to mate with them. In the wild, though, they’re somehow able to resist this—by the time they’re about a month old, they’ve learned to act like cowbirds, and they know to mate with their own species. The more Louder looked into the question of how they do it, though, the more he realized we really don’t know. “It’s kind of bothered people for a long time,” he says.

Octlantis is a just-discovered underwater city engineered by octopuses

At least one other gloomy octopus site was found recently, though; it was discovered in 2009, not far away in Jervis Bay, and named Octopolis. At that time it was considered a total anomaly. Researchers believed that the cephalopods gathered there because an unidentifiable human object happened to have formed a central point that the cephalopods surrounded with dens. The unknown artifact was a single object about 30 cm long, heavily encrusted, possibly made of metal. The site has been observed for seven years now, and at any given time, there are somewhere between two and 16 octopuses there. In Octlantis, however, there is no similarly mystifying human object to explain the gloomy octopus congregation.

The Donotpay bot will help you sue Equifax in small claims court

Joshua Browder (previously) is the delightful teen computer science student who created a the Donotpay to fight parking tickets that saved millions for its users, then repurposed it to help homeless people apply for benefits. Now, Donotpay will help you sue Equifax in small claims court, in any of the 50 US states. The bot fills in all the necessary forms, but you still have to serve them on Equifax and show up in court. Depending on which state you live in, you can sue Equifax for between $2,500 (Rhode Island, Kentucky) and $25,000 (Tennessee).

Harvard Withdraws Chelsea Manning’s Visiting Fellow Invitation

Former CIA Acting Director Michael Morell earlier Thursday announced his resignation as a senior fellow at Harvard over its decision to invite Manning. Mike Pompeo, the agency's current director, also canceled a speaking engagement there Thursday night.

Pepe the Frog’s Creator Goes Legally Nuclear Against the Alt-Right

The artist's lawyers have taken legal action against the alt-right. They have served cease and desist orders to several alt-right personalities and websites including Richard Spencer, Mike Cernovich, and the r/the_Donald subreddit. In addition, they have issued Digital Millennium Copyright Act takedown requests to Reddit and Amazon, notifying them that use of Pepe by the alt-right on their platforms is copyright infringement. The message is to the alt-right is clear—stop using Pepe the Frog or prepare for legal consequences.

The man behind the Ice Bucket Challenge is drowning in medical bills

Pete Frates lies on life support in the bedroom of his house with his care costing somewhere between $85,000 and $95,000 every month, his family says.

Uber’s Search for New C.E.O. Hampered by Deep Split on Board

The Uber board — which recently added new members amid a history of internal tensions — is mostly split into two camps. On one side is Mr. Kalanick, who is plotting a comeback. On the other are many of the company’s other directors, including the venture capitalist Matt Cohler and the private equity investor David Trujillo, who represent Uber investors like Benchmark and TPG Capital. Garrett Camp, an Uber co-founder, and Ryan Graves, an early employee, were part of this group in supporting Ms. Whitman’s candidacy last week.

Tech's push to teach coding isn't about kids' success – it's about cutting wages

Our educational system has long been producing more programmers than the labor market can absorb. A study by the Economic Policy Institute found that the supply of American college graduates with computer science degrees is 50% greater than the number hired into the tech industry each year. For all the talk of a tech worker shortage, many qualified graduates simply can’t find jobs.

Showtime's Websites May Have Used Your CPU to Mine Cryptocoin While You Binged on Twin Peaks

Over the weekend, a user on Twitter pointed out that two of Showtime’s websites had a script running in the background that’s used to hijack visitors’ CPUs to mine cryptocurrency. Other users and outlets later confirmed that the code was present. Now it’s gone, and Showtime refuses to answer questions.

Light Zucchini Pancakes

Another recipe. It's tasty, although a bit of a pain to prepare.

1 lb (about two 6") zucchini
1 clove minced garlic
1 egg
2 tablespoons minced fresh herbs (chives, mint, basil, parsley, etc)
1/2 cup flour
salt and pepper to taste

1. Grate the zucchini and dry. The recipe I has says "by wringing it in a clean towel or draining it, salted, in a colander for half an hour". Just so you know, half an hour is NOT going to be enough time. You'll need to get out a lot of water if you want your pancakes to cook properly. Slightly moist is fine, but get out as much water as you can manage easily.

2. Combine zucchini, garlic, salt and pepper, herbs and egg.

3. Stir in the flour.

4. Cook the batter like any other pancakes, about 3 minutes on each side. Supposedly this goes well with lemon wedges.

Makes about 3ish small pancakes.